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Originally Posted by SirTeddykins  You can probably see now why I was so confused and my dog so confused. I put time and money into a trainer who has wrecked my confidence which, in turn, has resulted in a confused little dog.
I will probably never trust trainers again, which is a sad and unfortunate result of this particular trainers incompetence, yet; for my dog, I'm willing to try alternate methods.
I think training should be regulated as how can a lay person know what's out dated, relevant or effective? Also, a dog is a life with a mind which is being messed with when trainers are wrong.
I have found this whole thing so disheartening but YT has made me feel a little better about things.
Thanks for having a read and await your further comments. |
I can, indeed, see why your poor baby was a mess and you confused after being instructed by a militant-type trainer using very old ideas about how to handle and train a dog.
Of course, many dogs will quickly pick up on whatever direction they get, however martinet-like the methods, particularly GSD's, Labs, Golden's, even if it's crudely dispensed with harsh techniques, and try their best to please their trainer as soon as they can pick up whatever it is the trainer is trying to teach them. But other dogs - hyper, excited, stressed/anxious and fearful -dogs can grow confused and terrified at such treatment, lose trust and respect for the one using these authoritarian methods and begin to behave bizarrely as a result of such training.
Yorkies, these days, possessed mostly with a highly-strung, race-horse-like temperament through the selection and happenstance of human intervention in their breeding programs, wouldn't generally, as a 21st century breed, probably react well at all to this type instruction without rebelling and/or growing more and more stressed and oppressed by these methods of training.
But today's Yorkies do react very well to keeping their training fun, using upbeat motivation techniques to incite them to want to focus on you, learn what you are teaching them and then instantly rewarding them when they get it right while marking a misfire with an "uh oh" and no reward just so they know when they didn't and thus more quickly figuring out which result they like the best and how to get that good it every time. And it makes them love to work and train and look to you as their benevolent pack leader.
I'll tell you what, I've always mollycoddled dogs I've trained and my own pets to bits but have always gained their respect and compliance, never been bitten as an adult, even with big, hostile, out-of-control, panicked dogs or those who have become become a cur or the most nervous little "ankle-biters", but I instruct them in how to behave using the motivation of my voice, my energy and enthusiasm, food, toys - from squeaky toys to balls to sticks some always love to carry in their mouths, a hard play session or whatever the currency they work for is, showing them that if they do what I want, they get paid off with the reward they so desire plus my genuine, heartfelt praise. It makes it worth their while to learn quickly so they get their reward and then somewhere in the process, they come to feel pride of accomplishment in my praise, develop respect for me as their pack or family leader and begin to work to feel so good about themselves for getting their commands right as we learn each other's "language".
Dogs seem to genuinely love to be able to communicate with us and gain a great deal of self-respect and self-confidence when they begin to understand or correctly associate our words and hand gestures/signs and respond to them quickly and just as quickly gain our approval and praise. As they gain self-respect and acknowledge our leadership, they begin to calm down, behave less impulsively and frantically, begin to control themselves just to please us, having learned there is more in it for them if they do.
In time, a dog just shines as he hurries to do what we ask in order to get his pleasurable twin rewards of a pay-off in a treat, toy, play session and our loving praise. And an unbroken bond has developed between you two that will never be broken in the process of working together over the weeks and months. Before you know it, you've become a team. And there is no doubt about who is leader though it was all kept fun and upbeat for the dog and you.
So you can see why old-school or military type dog training techniques such as your former trainer suggests using with your Yorkie are anathema to me and I don't find them needful or necessary to train a dog, particularly a toy dog with a smaller brain, and think they can do a great deal of harm to some troubled dogs. I'm so glad you are reaching out and finding another way to go with your baby.